Steenkamp shot dead by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius; he says he mistook her for intruder

Newly revealed photographs of Reeva Steenkamp show the South African beauty as a young aspiring model, and as a star cover girl, just months before her tragic death.

One group of images, taken by Reeva's friend Kerry Smith eight years before her death, show the then 21-year-old law student and modeling wannabe posing on the beach at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where she grew up -- and where her grieving parents scattered her ashes.

Her dark hair, freckles and innocent good looks are a world away from the shots of a bikini-clad Reeva featured in glossy magazines which millions around the world are now familiar with.